Wind-neutralizing passage

ABSTRACT

A passage serving as an entrance or exit has spaced airfoilshaped, vertically extending louvers forming the passage sidewalls adjacent the opening to the outdoors. Wind directed toward the passage through the opening is aspirated outdoors by the louvers.

United States Patent 1 Howells i 1 WlND-NEUTRALIZING PASSAGE Paul W.Howells, Morrisville, NY.

[73] Assignee: Syracuse University Research Corporation, Syracuse, NY.

[22] Filed: May 10, 1974 [2]} Appl. No.: 468,754

[75] inventor:

[52] U.S. Cl v. 98/32; 98/37; 98/l2l R; 52/204; 52/303 [5] Int. Cl F24l13/02 [58I Field of Search 98/29, 32, 37, I10, l2l R; 52/204, 302, 303,633

{56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 655,585 8/1900 Shantz 98/37Aug. 19, 1975 Deyo i 52/303 Box H 98/l2l R Primary ExaminerWilliam F,O'Dea Assistant E.wm1'nerRonald C, Capossela Attorney, Agent, orFirmBruns & Jenney [57] ABSTRACT A passage serving as an entrance orexit has spaced airfoibshaped, vertically extending louvers forming thepassage sidewalls adjacent the opening to the outdoorsw Wind directedtoward the passage through the opening is aspirated outdoors by thelouvers.

6 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures WI'ND-NEUTRALIZING PASSAGE BACKGROUND OF THEINVENTION This invention relates to Iouvered walls for diffusing airfrom passageways having an open end exposed to wind. More particularly.it relates to a wall structure for preventing wind from blowing into abuilding through an exit or entrance passage.

Heretofore where entering and exiting traffic is heavy, winds areprevented from entering a building by providing a vestibule in which theair pressure is increased by blowing large quantities of air therein.This is costly and usually results in large loss of heat in coldweather.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is proposed to construct comparatively longand narrow passageways at entrances and exits to structures where heavytraffic necessitates a substantially constant opening to outdoorsthereby exposing the interior to winds blowing toward the opening. Thesidewalls of the passageways comprise spaced vertically extendinglouvers, the louvers having an airfoil cross-sectional shape. This shapemay be of the bent metal type having parallel but curved sides or may beof a more complicated airfoil shape having sides curved about difi'erentcenters.

Each curved louver has a leading edge facing the out door opening andthe curved sides adjacent this edge make a small angle, approaching witha line along the inner side of the passage sidewall and the sides curvethereafter toward the outdoor side of the sidewall.

The leading edge of each louver is spaced transversely of the passagefrom the trailing edge of the louver next adjacent to it toward theoutdoor opening. The trailing edge of a first louver may be transverselyopposite the leading edge of the next louver in each sidewall or thesuccessive louvers may overlap for preventing complete free passage ofair through the sidewall when the wind is blowing transversely of thepassage.

The louvers may be secured at their top and bottom ends to membersextending longitudinally of the passage. Intermediately of their endsthe louvers may have their edges secured to longitudinally extendingreinforcing members on either side of the sidewall.

It has been found that, for any given width of outdoor opening, thewind-disturbance in a passage with louvered sidewalls falls to zero at adistance of about four times the openig width away from the opening.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAINING FIG. 1 is an end view and FIG. 2 is aside elevational view of a passageway having sidewalls according to theinvention;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view on the line 33 of FIG.2;

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 showing a modified form of sidewalllouver; and

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatical view ofa passageway illus trating theoperation of the sidewalls thereof in the wind.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2 apassageway is shown having the usual roof II and floor I2, thepassageway leading from a building or other structure 13, shownfragmentarily in FIG. 2, to an opening 14 to the outdoors.

The sidewalls IS of passageway 10 are comprised mainly of spaced,airfoil-shaped louvers 16 extending vertically. The cross-sectionalairfoil shape of the louvers are best seen in FIG. 3 and it vn'll beunderstood that each louver extends from an upper longitudinallyextending member 17 to which it is secured in each side wall to asimilar lower member I8 to which it is also secured. Each sidewall mayhave a vertical end member 19, defining therebetween the opening 14, andlouverreinforcing members 20 may extend along each sidewall at selectedlevels, as shown in FIG. 2.

The louvers 16 have parallel curved sides in that both sides are curvedabout the same center. They can easily be made out of flat metal stockby simple rolling and shearing techniques. Upper and lower members 17and 18 may also be of metal and the ends of the louvers I6 are weldedthereto. Reinforcing rods 20 may also be of metal, one rod at each levelbeing welded to each louver leading edge 21 and the other rod beingwelded to the trailing edges, the leading edge being the one facingopening I4, as shown in FIG. 3.

It will be noted that each louver leading edge 2] is at a substantiallyzero angle with the attached rod 20, the louver sides beingsubstantially parallel with the passage axis or wall side. The curvatureof the louvers is toward the outer side of the wall for deflecting wind,represented by the arrows 23, blowing in toward the opening 14 towardthe outside and the curvature is gentlev This minimizes leading edgeturbulence and noise.

Referring to FIG. 4, the louvers 16 are more aerodynamically shapedbeing thicker in part for strength and rigidity and more efficient asair-foils but more costly to manufacture.

Referring now to FIG. 5, a passageway 10 is shown having an opening 14and louvers 16. Wind, represented by the arrows 24 blows into theopening l4. Wind, represented by the arrows 25, also is blowing past theouter sides of the passage. Wind in the opposite direction is notconsidered as the passage in that case is protected by the building towhich it is connected, as at 13, FIG. 2.

Since the wind at 24 meets air in the passage, the pressure in thepassage rises and causes air to be aspirated at the walls between thelouvers, as shown by the arrows 26. According to Bemoullis theory, thisair at the arrows 26 has a lower pressure than the air in the passagecausing the air in the passage to be deflected toward the walls asindicated by the arrows 27.

It has been found that, as this movement of air progresses farther awayfrom opening 14 there comes a point of zero-movement or a dead spotwhich is about 4 times the width of opening 14 from the opening.

The gently curved air-foil shape of the louvers is important so as toallow air at the arrows 26 to be deflected and escape without creatingincreased pressure as would be the case with flat louvers.

The wind-neutralizing passage described herein is peculiarly adapted foruse with enclosed ways for small vehicles such as described inco-pending application Ser. No. 4IO,I65. by Paul W. Howells et al. nowUS. Pat. No. 3,831,526, issued Aug. 27, I974 in which the way hasdownhill sections where the vehicles may coast or pass under power anduphill sections where the vehicles, such as bicycles or smallelectrically powered vehicles, are towed uphill by electrically poweredlifts. In such ways each way is unidirectional so the wind neutralizingpassages need be only at the exits. At the entrances, wind directed atthe entrance opening assists the progress of the vehicles andwind-neutraliyatzon is not needed. Wind blowing at an entrance assiststhe vehicles entering and proceeding along the wayv At an exit, theentering wind is neutralized and the following wind from any entrance isaspirated through the exit louvered walls along with the air brought bythe wind directed at the exit.

It will be apparent from the above description that a wind-neutralizingpassage with only one sidewall louvered as described will be effectivein the same way, only less efficiently, the passage length beingrequired to be comparatively longer with respect to the width of opening14.

I claim:

1. In a structure having oppositely facing entrances and exits eachterminating in a passage having one end permanently open to theoutdoors, whereby wind blowing toward one outdoor opening isunobstructed from blowing through the structure, at least one passagebeing a windmeutralizing passage having at least one sidewall includinga plurality of longitudinally successive vertically-extending louvers,each louver comprising an elongated narrow strip of sheet material. thesuccessive strips being spaced longitudinally of the passage and eachstrip being of curved airfoil-shaped cross section. the leading edge ofeach louver strip facing the outdoors opening, each louver strip beingcurved from a portion extending substantially along the line of theinner side of the sidewall and curving away from the leading edge towardthe outer side of the sidewall to a trailing edge facing away from theoutdoor opening for aspiration of wind-blown air from the passagethrough the spaces between the louver strips.

2. The passage defined in claim 1 wherein the trailing edges of thelouver strips of the sidewall are aligned along a line extending alongthe outer side of the sidewall, the trailing edge of each successivelouver strip in the sidewall extending away from the passage Ollluutll'opening a distance at least equal to the distance of the next adjacentleading edge of the next adjacent louver strip from the outdoor opening.

3. In a structure having oppositely facing entrances and exits eachterminating in a passage having one end permanently open to theoutdoors, whereby wind blowing toward one outdoor opening isunobstructed from blowing through the structure. at least one passagebeing a wind-neutralizing passage having roof, floor, and sidewalls,each sidewall comprising a plurality of longitudinally spaced louversextending substantially from floor to roof; each louver comprising anelongated, relatively narrow and thin strip of substantially rigidmaterial; the successive strips being spaced longitudinally of thepassage, each strip having a curved airfoil-shaped cross-sectional shapeand having a leading edge facing the passage outdoor opening and atrailing edge facing away from the outdoor opening, each strip having aside surface adjacent the leading edge substantially aligned with theinner side of the sidewall and curved sides curving toward the outerside of the sidewall, the trailing edges of the strips in the louveredsidewalls being aligned along the outside of each sidewall, eachsuccessive strip of each louvered sidewall having its leading edge nofarther from the passage outdoor opening than the trailing edge of thenext adjacent strip toward the outdoor opening, each louvered sidewallextending a distance from the outdoor opening at least four times thewidth of the outdoor opening.

4. The wind-neutralizing passage in the structure defined in claim 3wherein both sides of each strip are curved about the same center.

5. The wind-neutralizing passage in the structure defined in claim 3wherein the sides of each strip are curved about different centers andthe cross-sectional shape of the strip conforms to an aerodynamicdesign.

6. The wind-neutralizing passage in the structure defined in claim 3wherein the curved surfaces of each strip intersect the line along theoutside of the respective sidewall at an angle smaller than 45.

1. In a structure having oppositely facing entrances and exits eachterminating in a passage having one end permanently open to theoutdoors, whereby wind blowing toward one outdoor opening isunobstructed from blowing through the structure, at least one passagebeing a wind-neutralizing passage having at least one sidewall includinga plurality of longitudinally successive vertically-extending louvers,each louver comprising an elongated narrow strip of sheet material, thesuccessive strips being spaced longitudinally of the passage and eachstrip being of curved airfoil-shaped cross section, the leading edge ofeach louver strip facing the outdoors opening, each louver strip beingcurved from a portion extending substantially along the line of theinner side of the sidewall and curving away from the leading edge towardthe outer side of the sidewall to a trailing edge facing away from theoutdoor opening for aspiration of wind-blown air from the passagethrough the spaces between the louver strips.
 2. The passage defined inclaim 1 wherein the trailing edges of the louver strips of the sidewallare aligned along a line extending along the outer side of the sidewall,the trailing edge of each successive louver strip in the sidewallextending away from the passage outdoor opening a distance at leastequal to the distance of the next adjacent leading edge of the nextadjacent louver strip from the outdoor opening.
 3. In a structure havingoppositely facing entrances and exits each terminating in a passagehaving one end permanently open to the outdoors, whereby wind blowingtoward one outdoor opening is unobstructed from blowing through thestructure, at least one passage being a wind-neutralizing passage havingroof, floor, and sidewalls, each sidewall comprising a plurality oflongitudinally spaced louvers extending substantially from floor toroof; each louver comprising an elongated, relatively narrow and thinstrip of substantially rigid material; the successive strips beingspaced longitudinally of the passage, each strip having a curvedairfoil-shaped cross-sectional shape and having a leading edge facingthe passage outdoor opening and a trailing edge facing away from theoutdoor opening, each strip having a side surface adjacent the leadingedge substantially aligned with the inner side of the sidewall andcurved sides curving toward the outer side of the sidewall, the trailingedges of the strips in the louvered sidewalls being aligned along theoutside of each sidewall, each successive strip of each louveredsidewall having its leading edge no farther from the passage outdooropening than the trailing edge of the next adjacent strip toward theoutdoor opening, each louvered sidewall extending a distance from theoutdoor opening at least four times the width of the outdoor opening. 4.The wind-neutralizing passage in the structure defined in claim 3wherein both sides of each strip are curved about the same center. 5.The wind-neutralizing passage in the structure defined in claim 3wherein the sides of each strip are curved about different centers andthe cross-sectional shape of the strip conforms to an aerodynamicdesign.
 6. The wind-neutralizing passage in the structure defined inclaim 3 wherein the curved surfaces of each strip intersect the linealong the outside of the respective sidewall at an angle smaller than45*.